Erie man charged in Sunday fatal shooting

Crime scene tape surrounds the front of the former East Erie Turners building on the 800 block of Parade Street following a fatal shooting early in the morning of Jan. 5. Police said a 27-year-old man was was killed and three others wounded in the incident: a 20-year-old man, a 19-year-old woman and an 18-year-old woman. ANDY COLWELL/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

Erie police Tuesday night charged an Erie man in a Sunday morning fatal shooting at a private party at the former East Erie Turners building at 829 Parade St.

Rashid Anderson, 26, was shot once in the chest and was pronounced dead at UPMC Hamot on Sunday at 1:28 a.m., about a half-hour after the shooting took place in the second-floor ballroom of the building. Another man and two women also were injured in the shooting.

Police on Tuesday charged Courtney Harden, 21, of the 2300 block of Holland St., in the shooting.

An arrest warrant was issued for Harden on Tuesday afternoon. Harden, accompanied by his attorney, turned himself in to police at about 7:35 p.m. Tuesday, Erie Police Chief Randy Bowers said.

Harden was arraigned on charges of homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, possession of an instrument of crime, and firearms not to be carried without a license.

Harden was placed in the Erie County Prison without bond. Bowers said that investigators on Monday had received some "needed cooperation" from the public and completed some "key interviews."

The crowd at the party on Sunday morning was estimated at 100 to 200 people.

Investigators have not discussed a motive or how many shots were fired.

The gunshots were overheard by Erie police officers outside the club ticketing cars. Bowers said police have been keeping a close eye on the former East Erie Turners building because of past problems there, including a shooting outside the building in November that wounded one man.

The death of Anderson was Erie's first homicide of 2014, and he was the sixth person injured or killed by gunfire in the city so far this year.

TIM HAHN can be reached at 870-1731 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNhahn.RON LEONARDI can be reached at 870-1680 or by e-mail.